TODAY`S COFFEE HOUR is hosted by Tim & Kathie Harvey. Many thanks and Happy Mother's Day to all!!

JUNIOR SUNDAY SCHOOL TO RESUME THIS FALL God willing, our Junior class will resume in the fall; we have concluded for this academic year. Students are encouraged to learn the Nicene Creed by heart. Presvytera will listen to recitations at any time and students who memorize the Creed will be awarded a prize.

A VERY NICE GIFT FOR MOM Our bookstore has an assortment of beautiful icons, a number featuring Panagia, the Mother of all Christians, embracing her Child, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. An icon makes a lasting gift and can be venerated by mom and all the family for years to come. Stop by our bookstore and see if there isn`t just the right icon for your mother on this very special day on the year.

CELTIC DANCE FEIS THIS AFTERNOON Northern Lights Celtic Dancers are having their end of year class feis at the Snow Goose Restaurant theatre this afternoon. The dance competition is open to the public.

GROUNDS CLEAN-UP THIS SATURDAY Please make a note on your calendar to set aside a bit of time to come and help clean the church grounds this Saturday, May 16. We`ll begin working at 10AM. Please join us--many hands make light work...

OUR FOOD PANTRY COULD USE A BOOST The food pantry maintained by St. Irene Philoptochos could use more items on its shelves. Please keep this in mind when you are grocery shopping. A few things from a number of parishioners make a real difference in our offerings to those who are have needs and come to us for assistance. Thank you!

PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS The St. Irene Philoptochos Board Election is on the horizon. We will hold a Philoptochos General Meeting on Sunday, June 14 after coffee hour. The main item on the agenda will be election of officers. More information about the meeting and Board nominations will be sent to members this week.

FINANCIAL BASICS FOR OUR PARISH, Week 18 Our parish is committed to a stewardship program in lieu of the annual Greek festival to keep ourselves up and running. The target figure for each week is $3,100. The first 18 weeks brought in an income of approx. $50,000; a $5,600 deficit. Many have increased their giving and some new stewards have made an offering. This is very encouraging. May the Lord help and save all the benefactors of His holy Church.

NEW IN THE BOOKSTORE A new assortment of icon bracelets! Wooden large panel icon bracelets at $7.95 each; smaller panel bracelets featuring hematite beads in two styles--Eastern Orthodox Saints and Orthodox Crosses, $2.95 each. Saints featured are: St. Mary of Egypt, St. Demetrios, Mother of God (tenderness), Christ Pantocrator, Theotokos (Directress), St. John the Forerunner, St. George, St. Nicholas, St. Anthony, Guardian Angel, St. Katherine and St. Paul the Apostle. The Orthodox Crosses bracelet features: Jesus Christ Conquers, St. Olga, Byzantine, Coptic/Greek, Byzantine, Armenian, Ethiopian, Slavic, Russian Emperor styles. These make wonderful gifts!

BUILDING PROJECT NEWS We have exciting news regarding our church building project.

The building committee after several meetings and discussions with the architect Pat Krochina unamiously voted to proceed with the completion of the final design and apply for the building permits.

The building committee decided to approach the project in three phases. The first phase of the project will include the foundation and social hall with utilities. The expense for this phase including the completion of the design and permits for the entire structure is estimated by the architect at $600.000. The second phase will include enclosing the second floor sanctuary for approximately an additional $600.000. The third phase would finish the interior of the entire building and include landscaping.

At present the Building Fund account has a total of $369.000. In addition we have a total of $745.300 in pledges. Our goal is to collect the major portion of the pledges by June 15 in order to break ground in July.

Building a traditional Byzantine style Greek Orthodox Church in Anchorage has been a dream of our parish for 50 years. The time has come to build that church to glorify God for our present and future generations. We could like to invite you to participate in helping our dream become a reality by making your pledge at this time.

Maria Baskous
Building Committee Chairman, Maria.baskous@gmail.com (907) 333-2150, (907) 229-3326

WE NEED GARAGE SALE DONATIONS We are planning a garage sale for the end of May and need your help.

This sale will raise money to offset the costs of getting those attending the Kodiak Pilgrimage to Spruce Island.

At present we are thinking of organizing the sale for the weekend of May 29-31. This may slip into early June depending on conflicts with other schedules.

I will be the point of contact and will work to organize volunteers and accept donations (items) to be sold a the garage sale.

If you have stuff you were thinking about getting rid of this is a great opportunity. Please contact myself or begin bringing items to the church to prepare for the sale.

I thank you for the help and items in advance.

God Bless,
Greg


DAILY BIBLE READINGS FOR FACEBOOK AND iGooogle The Department of Internet Ministries has launched an enhancement to its Online Chapel service that will now provide Facebook and iGoogle users access to the daily Bible readings and lives of the saints directly from their customized home pages. Visit the Online Chapel at http://www.goarch.org/chapel for more information on how to add the new Online Chapel for Facebook and Online Chapel for iGoogle to your home pages.

THANK YOU CORNER Many thanks to Tim, Kathie, Diane Provost, Dr. Alex, Brian, Lynn and Pres. who worked on the newsletter folding project and had everything ready to go last Sunday afternoon.

Big thanks to Nina S. who spent time sweeping gravel from the parking lot this past week.

Who should receive a note of thanks? Please send info to Pres. for inclusion in the bulletin: doxa@clearwire.net (include a request for a "read" receipt under the options tab before sending to make sure she has received your message--thx!)

PLANNING A PILGRIMAGE HTGOC Community - I am excited to communicate with you all that the Youth Group will be organizing a pilgrimage to Kodiak Island and Spruce Island this summer. Although the focus for the organized trip will be to provide events for our Junior High to Young Adult age groups we want to make sure that the entire community understands they are invited and encouraged to attend.

For those outside of the Youth Group - it will be up to each individual or family how they would like to get to Kodiak. The Youth will be traveling together via the ferry system from Homer. An announcement will soon be made as to the scholarship amount provided per youth to support affording such a wonderful trip. Craig and I will pursue fundraising events prior to leaving to reduce costs further for each youth. For the community - the Youth Group will cover the cost and coordination of getting from Kodiak Harbor to Spruce Island. We will also help coordinate lodging as we make contacts with the Seminary and other potential locations.

Important - the dates for the Youth pilgrimage are:
Depart from Anchorage to Homer, Friday June 26 Depart for Kodiak from Homer, Saturday, June 27 Kodiak Activities - Sunday through Wednesday, June 28 to July 1 Trip to Spruce Island - may occur on best weather day from Monday to Wednesday, June 29 to July 1 Depart for Homer from Kodiak, Wednesday Night, July 1 Return to Anchorage, Thursday or Friday, July 2 or 3

Please begin chatting with Craig and me about your desire and commitment to join. Please allow your youth the opportunity to participate if the schedule works for your family. More details will follow. For any questions please talk to Craig or myself. God Bless, Greg


USHER SCHEDULE Today: Emmanuel & Lynne